


this poisoned love

by mamalovesherbagels



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: doug does what doug did just in a slightly different way, gave my boy chimney some thallium poisoning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28947258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamalovesherbagels/pseuds/mamalovesherbagels
Summary: He doesn't even notice his friend Jason slip something into his drink and stir it in, he's too focused on the basketball game on the bar TVs. Or, the one where Doug tries to get rid of Chimney before his first date with Maddie in a different way.
Relationships: Howie "Chimney" Han & Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048141
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	this poisoned love

“I know, I know,” Hen says as calmly as she can, trying not to let the tears pooling up in her eyes leak over as Chimney writhes and cries beneath her touch, “I know, Chim, I know.”

She can’t make sense of it. She’s a paramedic-- it’s her job to treat and sometimes _tentatively_ diagnose on the fly, but she know the one with testing equipment and a medical degree-- but usually she has _some_ sort of idea what’s wrong with each patient that she comes across. But now she has no clue what’s happening with her patient and her patient just so happens to be her best friend.

Eddie and Buck have rushed to go get a gurney to put him on while Bobby is kneeling down beside her in front of the couch, one hand on her shoulder and one hand on Chimney’s knees. She goes over his symptoms and their presentation over in her head again, but it still doesn’t make any sense.

“They’re h-here,” he sobs, “here a-and that’s why it h-hurts.”

“Who’s here, Chim?” Bobby asks, knowing it’s a hallucination because no one is here besides the 118 but just trying to keep him talking, everyone afraid of what happens if he goes silent.

“T-the men,” he chokes out, before _screaming_ in pain and anguish and Hen wants to throw up, only stopping herself from doing so because she has a job to do and because Chimney had already thrown up on her twice.

It had happened so fast. He walked into work looking a little pale and politely turning down breakfast, saying that he felt a little nauseous and flopped down on the couch for a little nap.

And then he woke up screaming in pain, clutching at his stomach and vomiting and shouting unintelligibly about “the men” out to get him. He’s obviously seeing things that aren’t actually there but the intense abdominal pain isn’t a sign of a neurological or psychological event and there’s no fever to explain the hallucinations, and she knows the pain isn’t from his appendix because it’s not located in the right area. She doesn’t get it; she’s never seen this before and she has no idea what could--

“Poison!” Hen shouts all the sudden, the tears falling despite her best efforts when she turns to look at her captain, “it’s poison, Bobby.”

“...What?” Bobby replies, not because he can’t comprehend the words but he can’t comprehend why anyone would want to hurt Chimney or what substance he could have accidentally come in contact with and mishandled.

“I don’t know either,” Hen shakes her head, “but he’s delirious without a fever and his legs are twitching and he’s having hallucinations while screaming from stomach pain and vomiting. I can’t think of anything else that would present that way unless he’s ingested something that he shouldn’t…”

“G-Gonna hurt m-me,” Chimney whimpers, retching again and Hen’s top is now covered in even more vomit but it’s the least of her worries at the moment.

“Shh, you’re safe, you’re safe,” Hen reassures him, rubbing his back, “we’re going to get you to the hospital and they’re going to make it all better, okay? You’re sick because your body is smart and trying to get it all out of your system.”

The words mean nothing to him, she can tell by the way he keeps crying and babbling on incoherently but she still has to try, she still has to do her best to comfort him and let him know that it’s going to be alright.

Of course, she doesn’t _know_ with 100% certainty that he’s going to be alright but she can’t allow herself to think that way; she needs to do her job until they hand him off to the doctors at the hospital and she’s not going to be able to help keep him stable until then if she’s hit with the crushing blow of the knowledge that he could die or live and never be the same.

“You’re okay,” she repeats in a whisper, wiping some sweat off his forehead before Eddie and Buck are back and it all happens so fast, rushing him into the ambulance and her and Bobby sitting in the back with him while Eddie drives and Buck sits beside him.

“We’re going to the hospital, buddy,” Bobby says softly, patting his shoulder, “you’re going to be okay.”

“Should I, uh, call my sister?” Buck asks, and none of this is his fault but she can’t help but snap at him.

“What do you think? They’ve been friends for months and she just asked him on a date-- I think she’d like to know that he’s having a medical emergency.”

“Well, yeah, obviously,” Buck retorts, but his voice is full of nerves and shaking and not malice, “I just mean would it do more harm than good when we don’t even know what’s wrong?”

“I think it’s some sort of poison,” Hen sighs, wiping at her eyes with the hand that isn’t the one Chimney is holding so tightly she’s afraid it might break, “I don’t know what kind. I can’t imagine anyone that would-- probably an accident, maybe he mishandled…”

“But what reason would he have to have any of the chemicals dangerous enough for poisoning by misuse in his home?” Eddie asks, sounding confused, “I mean, most pesticides, but he lives in an apartment, not a farm, and I think Chimney’s smart enough to not drink laundry detergent.”

“I don’t know, okay?” Hen snaps, and it’s not fair but answering their questions falls low on her list of priorities at the moment, “I don’t know what or how, but I can’t think of any other reasons why he’d have such severe abdominal pain and vomiting and delusions without a fever.”

“He survived a rebar through the brain, I’m sure he’s going to bounce back from whatever is in his system that shouldn’t be.”

“He was at a bar last night, with some new friend…” Hen whispers, trying to wrack her brain, “but people get slipped date rape drugs at bars, not poison… Chim, honey, what is it that you ate or drank?”

“I hate to be the one to ask, but it could it be--”

“No,” Hen shakes her head, “if it were on purpose I would’ve noticed a change in behavior from him and if he wanted to die by poisoning himself, he wouldn’t have come into work today where we could intervene to save his life.”

“Fair enough.”

“H-Hurts. Scared… g-gonna kill me.”

“No, no, you’re not dying, no one is going to kill you, Chim,” Bobby interjects, trying to again touch his shoulder but Chimney yelps the second Bobby’s hand makes contact, “don’t! D-don’t hurt me! You’re blue, y-you’re blue, don’t hurt me…”

“No one is going to hurt you,” Hen hums, “not a thing is going to hurt you, sweet boy, I promise.”

“Hurts. Knife. M-Mom. Tell my mom I-I… Maddie. Gonna m-miss Maddie.”

“You won’t have to miss her because she’ll meet you at the hospital soon,” Hen says forcefully, before shouting out to the front, “Buck, call her as soon as we get there, okay?”

“Got it,” Buck mutters under his breath, wondering what on Earth to even say to his sister-- Maddie, who isn’t Chimney’s official girlfriend but practically is and is supposed to have her first “real” date with him in just two days…

.

Maddie sits in the break room, pouring herself another copy when she gets a text from an unknown number.

“He’s not our problem anymore,” is all that it says.

**Author's Note:**

> lolz sorry


End file.
